We live in a house which has been here since the 1600s. We have a large garden and the northern boundary spans a back garden and a field. When we moved in the owner of the field informed us that the boundary hedge was shared. We discussed this and said that we would eventually like to lay the hedge as it is in a poor state of repair with lots of gaps. He didn't state that he disagreed with our plans. This February we cut down one very sad looking hawthorn tree to hedge height in the hope that it will fill out. It's also our aim to fill in some gaps with more hawthorn. Anyway, this guy came along and had a real go at us for cutting this as he said he had now lost privacy (in his field!), that he owns the hedge and that he would take out an injunction if we do anything more to it (bearing in mind he has previously maintained it's a shared hedge). After speaking to a number of neighbours whose boundaries run along this guy's field it seems that he has had words with many of them for maintaining the hedge. The previous owner of the field (a farmer) had informed everyone whose houses backs onto the field that the hedge was their responsibility (not his) and indeed, when looking on google maps the hedge is (a) at different heights and (b) contains different hedging plants from holly to leylandii depending which garden backs onto it. The owner of the field has no proof that he owns the hedge. We have no proof that we own the hedge either. However, as the hedge is the same height and contains the same trees and bushes right across our northern boundary, spanning both the field and the neighbours garden, this suggests to me that this boundary is more likely to belong to us than to him. Although there doesn't appear to be a ditch on the field side of the hedge, both the hedge and our land are higher than the field. I know this all sounds a bit hazy, but we have asked land registry about this and it is not clear on any deeds (ours, the owner of the field, or the neighbour who's garden we back onto) who owns this hedge but we're hoping that someone may have an idea as to how to find out who owns the boundary, or whether we can, legally, maintain it.

vickimh67 wrote:We live in a house which has been here since the 1600s. We have a large garden and the northern boundary spans a back garden and a field. When we moved in the owner of the field informed us that the boundary hedge was shared. We discussed this and said that we would eventually like to lay the hedge as it is in a poor state of repair with lots of gaps. He didn't state that he disagreed with our plans. This February we cut down one very sad looking hawthorn tree to hedge height in the hope that it will fill out. It's also our aim to fill in some gaps with more hawthorn. Anyway, this guy came along and had a real go at us for cutting this as he said he had now lost privacy (in his field!), that he owns the hedge and that he would take out an injunction if we do anything more to it (bearing in mind he has previously maintained it's a shared hedge). After speaking to a number of neighbours whose boundaries run along this guy's field it seems that he has had words with many of them for maintaining the hedge. The previous owner of the field (a farmer) had informed everyone whose houses backs onto the field that the hedge was their responsibility (not his) and indeed, when looking on google maps the hedge is (a) at different heights and (b) contains different hedging plants from holly to leylandii depending which garden backs onto it. The owner of the field has no proof that he owns the hedge. We have no proof that we own the hedge either. However, as the hedge is the same height and contains the same trees and bushes right across our northern boundary, spanning both the field and the neighbours garden, this suggests to me that this boundary is more likely to belong to us than to him. Although there doesn't appear to be a ditch on the field side of the hedge, both the hedge and our land are higher than the field. I know this all sounds a bit hazy, but we have asked land registry about this and it is not clear on any deeds (ours, the owner of the field, or the neighbour who's garden we back onto) who owns this hedge but we're hoping that someone may have an idea as to how to find out who owns the boundary, or whether we can, legally, maintain it.

You do that, and let him do whatever he likes. Has he actually proceeded to injunction any of his neighbours yet?